


I'm All That You Could Ever Need

by Risuu



Category: My Time At Portia (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Eventual Romance, Eventual Smut, F/M, Not Beta Read, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Rivals to Lovers, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-19
Updated: 2020-05-19
Packaged: 2021-03-03 02:55:20
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,858
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24277729
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Risuu/pseuds/Risuu
Summary: It always seemed as if their rivalry was set in stone. At least, that was what everyone in Portia had led themselves to believe. Perhaps in their hearts, the two of them had believed it too, but was there any chance of Higgins and Athena ever putting aside their differences for the better?
Relationships: Builder/Higgins (My Time At Portia), Female Builder/Higgins (My Time At Portia)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 18





	I'm All That You Could Ever Need

**Author's Note:**

> *:pensive:* hello it's me, i'm back. I don't know why I'm writing this, maybe I just like to torture myself. The pacing and writing of this WILL get better I assure you, I just hope this first chapter doesn't fucking suck to read! I had to split this first chapter into two parts, (the other which I will finish asap!) because I was struggling to kick this fic off. In hindsight that probably isn't very promising but I will do my best as soon as this chapter is over! Once I get out of this writing rut, big dick will be back in town babey.
> 
> hmu on Tumblr! I'm @mytimeatlautia on there. I love Higgins with every bone in my body and I will be happy to talk about him or the game in general with you! 
> 
> pls enjoy!

Today was not going as planned.

It wasn’t Athena’s fault that Higgins had mysteriously vanished from the Commerce Guild that morning, but Presley had certainly turned her into his personal errand girl when his absence became known to him. She didn’t see the point really, when she was sure that the guild master could have easily gone to look for him by himself, or at least call down the Civil Corps to arrange a search party.

Still, what was the point in that either? It hardly made sense in her mind that anybody in Portia would be worried about someone skipping out on their daily routine for only one day, but that didn’t exactly stop Presley from pressing her with his dubious reasoning. He seemed adamant that something wasn’t right, a sentiment that Antoine eventually echoed too. It was very unlike Higgins to ever miss out on a daily commission, stubbornly battling through any sickness or injury that may have befallen him in order to ensure that he could get a job done.   
  
It was all too suspicious, and Presley sent her away with the responsibility of getting to the bottom of it, which landed her right in front of his workshop that very day. 

As she stood in front of the wooden door, she began to question why she was even doing this. It wasn’t like Higgins was her responsibility, Presley didn’t really have the right to send her off to demand answers from a man that would hardly even give her the time of day. What use was she in the face of a workaholic who only seemed to care about shoving her out of the way on his path to victory? She should have known better, she should have taken the chance to run when she had it, but here she was, a raised fist in front of his workshop door. No backing out now, she couldn’t leave Presley in the dark.

Knuckles against the wood, she knocked once, twice, thrice, not quite knowing what to expect from the other side of the door. Perhaps there was nothing, perhaps he wasn’t even in his workshop in the first place. For all she knew he could have been off somewhere collecting resources, or if he _was_ home, there was even a chance that he could have accidentally slept in. A terrible habit that she had picked up herself, but everyone under the sun knew that Higgins could probably do with a lot more sleep instead of the meagre few hours that he apparently allowed himself. He could probably start taking notes from her soon.

But despite her knocking, she wasn’t offered a response in return. And perhaps that in itself was enough to satisfy her from doing anything else about it. She could turn tail and return back to her own workshop and finally get on with the commission that she had taken from the board. It was not like she owed Higgins her time or her energy, especially when he never had enough for her or anyone else in town either. 

Yet she had been entrusted by Presley to do this, to find him and bring him back to the guild so that everyone could rest easy knowing that he was safe. It wasn’t like she even had a choice or say in the matter, he had become her responsibility whether she liked it or not.

“Higgins.” She called loudly, raising her knuckles to the wooden door again and knocking sharply several more times. “Open up, I know you’re in there.”

This time she was about to turn around and leave it up to someone else to clean up the mess that her rival had left behind, but was stopped in her tracks by a shuffling of footsteps from behind the workshop door.

Finally, after a long wait filled with nothing but silence, it clicked and swung open.

There, as Athena had expected, or at least had very much _hoped,_ was Higgins. The look on his face instantly soured as he regarded her with an upwards, condescending sweep of her body. Something about it told her that he wasn’t particularly pleased to see her standing in front of his workshop, nor was she welcome here either. 

“What do you want, twerp?” He gave her a snarl that looked like it was supposed to be menacing, but there was a tiredness in his eyes that betrayed him.

But of course, ever the charmer he was, although Athena wouldn’t let it get to her. She was right in her assumption at least, he definitely wasn’t happy about her sudden appearance, but it wasn’t as if she wanted to be there either. Presley had sent her out on a mission, and the sooner she got it done for him, the better.

She would try to tame the beast in the very little time that she would allow herself to stay in his territory.

“Presley asked me to look for you, he was concerned that you didn’t turn up this morning.” She said.    
  
“Concerned? Hah! Really now, that’s a new one.” Higgins laughed with mock amusement. Laughed, because that seemed more like a joke to him than anything else, even though his voice utterly dripped with a mixture of contempt and malice. “I never expected him to even care about me at all.”    
  
“I’m sure if he didn’t, he wouldn’t have asked.” Athena replied, raising an eyebrow.

Tired eyes rolled at her, and she could immediately tell that this wasn’t going to be easy.

“Fine, fine, whatever, it doesn’t matter. You can run back and tell him that I don’t need to be coddled.” He raised a hand, shooing her, and by extension, Presley away dismissively. “I don’t need you lot on my back on top of everything else.”

“Well, will you at least let me tell him what’s wrong?” Athena quizzed, stepping forwards when she noticed him beginning to move back into his workshop. She shoved a foot into the middle of the doorway to stop him from closing it shut. “That way I can make Presley get off your back?”

“What? Since when was this any of your business?” Higgins impatiently fidgeted with the door that was still held open with one of his hands, as if trying to get his point across. “ I’m fine, leave me alone and go away.”

Yeah, alright, it definitely wasn’t going to be easy if he decided to act like a total hardass.

“Really? You don’t fucking look like it! You look like shit, when’s the last time you slept and ate properly?” Athena asked, tone snapping up into a sharp yell. She was very much aware that any passersby could listen in on their conversation, but her will to even care was already rapidly waning away.

Higgins eyes widened, then immediately narrowed again, his brows knitting together to complete an expression of pure shock and disgust. Clearly he had not expected that to come out of Athena. It wasn’t like he was unused to foul language himself, but she knew damn well that he didn’t appreciate being talked to like that.

“Excuse me? Did you not just hear what I-” 

“Higgins.” Athena said firmly, completely cutting him off from completing his sentence. She lifted a hand to hold onto the door, a warning. _You will stay here._

Higgins groaned, quickly catching onto her intentions, but decided to play along if only to get her out of his hair. “Oh for god’s sake, _alright._ Three days ago, are you happy now?” He tried to wrench the door back from her grasp. It didn’t budge, and Athena simply followed him up by grabbing onto it even tighter. She remained deadpan, fingernails digging into the grooves of the wood as she pulled it back in a small demonstration of resistance.   
  
“Look, I just wanted to know, that’s all. You really don’t look very well.”

“And since when have _you_ even cared?” Higgins hissed bitterly, shaking his head. “You have it all, you have everything. Why would you even think of me as anything else than dirt underneath your foot?”    
  
“Because I’m not a terrible person? At least I’d like to hope so.” Athena exclaimed, a rush of frustration rattling through her. “It’s not illegal for me to check if you’re okay, right? Unless you really want to bring Arlo down to arrest me for looking out for you.” She quickly glanced to the side, in the general direction of the Corps building. She’d dare it, as much as Higgins would dare to call them over the pettiest of disagreements between them. Two could play at that game.

But to her surprise, she got nothing in response to that, no fiery comeback, not even a snide remark or threat telling her to back off or he _would_ get the Civil Corps involved. Higgins merely stood her down from the top of the stairs to his workshop, eyeing her with caution, unfaltering, unrelenting. It made something else inside of Athena bristle with irritation. She was already sick of chasing him around.

“Higgins, tell me what’s wrong.” She tried again, with a little more force than necessary.

It wasn’t in her nature to pry when it came to him of all people, but something didn’t seem right at all. Leaving the stone unturned seemed wrong, or at least it would seem wrong to Presley, and would cause more unrest within the guild. She didn’t quite fancy the trip back to Higgins workshop when her findings were inevitably found unsatisfactory to Presley’s standards.

Nevertheless, Higgins still didn’t offer up an answer to her demand. He simply stared back at her again, but Athena could clearly see the discomfort in his eyes.

Then rather suddenly, he lurched forwards and grabbed her left wrist, yanking her forwards and up the steps to his workshop, giving her little more than a few seconds to register what was even happening. He pulled her through the door, letting her stumble off to the side when he finally let go, slamming it closed behind her with his hand pressed flat against the wood.

“In here.” He said. “I will tell you here, but not out there. The whole world doesn’t need to know.” He pushed away from the door to step towards her, staring back down at her just as he was doing before. It was becoming a habit now, though Athena was no stranger to the fact that he always looked at her in that way. She grit her teeth and shook her wrist out, standing back up to face him head-on. She wouldn’t let him have that, not now, not anymore.

Though whilst she was not particularly pleased with the way he handled her so roughly, she would at least give him the privacy that he wanted. That she would allow him, despite the anger that he had incited. She could only hope that his explanation was good enough, otherwise she would be having words with him as soon as he had said his piece.

“Fine.” She told him, tilting her head up to meet his gaze. “Then out with it.”


End file.
